I love Twitter. Yet, sadly, it is the most misused social media platform out there.

When I meet with clients, I almost always have to overcome their initial objections about how frivolous tweeting can be. Unfortunately, there are no shortage of people out there who do nothing but provide daily evidence to support the prejudice that exists. I'm sick of the noise. I've grown tired of the stupidity. Please, my friends, let's stop the insanity once and for all and show all those non-tweeters how valuable Twitter can be.

I beseech you to join with me to outlaw the following Twitter practices. Ok, so we can't really make them against the law, but let's stop doing them. And, let's stop supporting those who do!

Auto DMs
I can't believe self proclaimed social media "gurus" are still advocating this practice to their disciplines. And, yet others just think of this bright idea all on their own. STOP IT! It's not winning you any friends. No one is liking your Facebook page because you sent a link in your auto DM. No one is impressed with your ability to harness automation. It's a sleazy, ineffective, offensive practice and it only shows how little you really know about Twitter.

Formulists
Why are people automating their list making? And, it's not even like they're getting something great out of doing so! "Who My Friends are Talking To" is a lame list! "People Who Listed Me" is equally stupid! Lists generated through Formulists provide no value whatsoever. You get no points for putting together a worthless list (heck, you didn't even do it; a bot did!) and the recipient of your listing gets nothing out of being put on such a pointless list. STOP IT. It's a waste and only makes me think less of you.

Buying Followers
I still can't believe that people do this, but they do. I've seen it firsthand. This is not what Twitter is all about. It's about being real and developing real connections with real people. Do you think I can't see that all your listings are from other people who have bought followers? Do you not realize I can look at your followers and realize they're all garbage accounts? Maybe you're fooling yourself, but you're not fooling me. STOP IT and play fair like the rest of us.

Questionable Contests
We've all seen the tweet: "Leave a comment on my blog and win _____!". However, what I see way too much is people not delivering on those contests. People who say a winner will be announced on a certain day and/or time--and nothin'. No tweet, no post, no comment. Nothing. No winner announced.

I've even tweeted to ask about the winner; silence. I can only assume that the contest response wasn't what they had hoped and they chose to keep the prize for another time. Or maybe there wasn't a prize at all. If you announce a contest, give out the prize! Update your blog to say who won and congratulate the person. Contests aren't just for you to increase traffic to your site, they're for you to create goodwill with your readers. They are not a free ticket for you to mislead people. I know who you are and I'm disgusted. STOP IT.

Food
When I try to get people on the Twitter bandwagon, the number one objection I have to overcome is "Don't people just tweet about what they're eating?" Interestingly, even people who really understand Twitter seem to be compelled to share their eating habits. "Yummm. Carrot cake." Who cares? And do you really need to tweet a link to the TwitPic of your cake? I know what cake looks like! And Foursquare check-ins have made it even worse. "Mmmm. Peach pie (@ Marie Callendars) http://4sq.com/29sktm47". Stop tweeting this nonsense and stop responding to it with "you're making me hungry" or "sounds good". It's noise. Noise at its absolute worst. STOP IT! (The one exception here is if you have a food blog, have published articles about food, or otherwise makes a living through the food industry.)

TrueTwit
In an ironic twist of fate, those who use TrueTwit say they're trying to cut down on spam. I've got news for you, you are the ones creating the spam! Don't send me a DM and punish me for following you by making me prove I'm real. I won't jump through hoops for you. Click on the link to show you I'm a person? No, thanks. I just as soon unfollow you. You're offending people and are the butt of jokes. STOP IT.

Twitter Systems
It's not just the little guys who are offering high-priced systems to help teach you social media, it's also some of the fairly well-known people who are doing it. You don't need to pay $1,000 for some ebooks and videos. If you offer a system or have bought a program, STOP IT. Everything you need to know is out there for free! And there is no shortcut here, anyway. Listen, engage, provide value, be supportive, offer guidance. These are the tools to succeed on Twitter. See, I just saved you $1,000.

What have I missed? What else should be outlawed? Let's get it all out there once and for all and clean up the streets in Twitterland. There's a new sheriff in town and she's ready to start crackin' some knuckles...

It's self-important to have many followers.It's like a contest - who can get the most followers? You get nothing for it.I follow only those that I am interested in following. If you follow me, you should be interested in what I Tweet. I will not follow you just because you followed me unless, when I look at your time-line, your Tweets are interesting to me.

Great post. Totally agree with your observations. Auto DM's are a huge pet peeve of mine.

@Stephan Klose: The reasons for wanting followers depends on the person. For some, its a popularity thing. The more followers you have, the more important you appear. For others, its about a large audience - having a lot of people to hear what you are saying. For me, its not so important to have a lot of followers as it is to have QUALITY followers who will interact with your interests. Its about forming connections with people you can learn from - btu also share information too. Twitter is about more than just taking information. Be the follower to others that you want following you :)

PaleGreenStar: Thanks for the comment. I appreciate you taking the time to chime in on the subject! Oh, auto DMs ruffle my feathers something terrible! ;-)

And, I love your answer to Stephan. I wouldn't have said it any differently myself. Nice! (Oh, and FYI, the great thing about this commenting system is you can respond directly to another commenter. Very cool. So if there's ever a comment you want to reply to (like Stephan's, for example), all you need to do it click "reply" right beneath the comment so then your comments are threaded together. Very great feature.)

Stephan: PaleGreenStar left a great answer to your question in his comment above. The only thing I'd add it that some people see follower count as a status symbol or think that it gives them greater influence. If the followers are real and target, it probably does. If they're bought, they're garbage accounts that yield no real value.

Wonderful list! I would like to add to this list the cutting off of link shortened URLs. Twitter is my alternate RSS reader, and so often I will find a tweet with a link that sounds awesome, only to find that the shortened URL is cut off, and because it's done through a shortener, I can't guess at the original URL.

Hello Amber, I am fairly new at this so I am learning. I have learned a lot of what I do by the people that have been here awhile and who seem to know what they are doing. I also try different media options to see what they are. I also go to many websites and read so that I can learn. I think that some of the older tweeters need to chill and remember that they were new once too.

I know that I have probably made mistakes in my twittering since I am new, however I do not think that gives anyone the right to correct me in public like I have committed the worst sin on earth. I don't and won't walk on eggshells for other twitters. If someone has a problem with something I am doing or if I have offended someone then I think they can DM me instead of tweeting in public.

I know that I am making an honest effort to learn as much as I can about twitter. And I do twitter politely.. I do not learn from anyone that has a bully, snooty attitude.

That is why I personally appreciate your blog topics because you explain things. Thank you very much for that :)

Hi Kate, thanks for weighing. You know, something happened with the links when Twitter made that multimedia change about two months ago. The one where you could now "see" the link in the tweet to guarantee it wasn't spam. That change is what started the link cut offs.

I hate that, too. But, I actually think that's a flaw with the Twitter platform and not a bad habit of actual people. I wish they'd fix it, because I'm with you; it's annoying and inconvenient. They also need to fix the DM inbox on Twitter to show all your old messages, but that's another topic for another time ;-)

I subscribe all the things you wrote. Especially this Auto DM nonsense freaks me out. Sometimes I regret that I followed this person & unfollow him/her immediately after reading the DM. I totally agree with PitOwner about following back.

Thanks to Twitter I met a lot of great people (including you :) all around the world, who share similar interests with me. For me there are no followers on Twitter, just friends I haven't met yet ;)

Twitter is an awesome medium to take the pulse of the world, learn new things from minds alike & improve yourself both professionally & personally. If... you're a good listener.

There will always be nuisances around us & Twitter is not an exception. Thanks to unfollow button we could keep the noise to minimum. I'm sure losing a follower is enough punishment for them.

Hi Lisa, thanks so much for your frank and honest comment. You are so right; too many people forget what it was like to be new. Personally, I didn't know a thing when I started and had no one to guide me. I stumbled through it like most people and, today, and try my best to help people learn more quickly than I did! ;-)

It sounds as though you've had a few bad encounters as your examples seem as though they're from personal experience. Like any group of people, there are nice one and there are mean ones. It sounds as though you're trying to learn and make the most out of Twitter, though, so kudos to you for that. Self education is really your best bet. And, hopefully, you find some good resources along the way to help you through it.

Thank you for your kind words about my blog. I know I'm flip and sarcastic, but at the root, I really am trying to provide something of value. Some times I do better than others, but I really enjoy these platforms so much and know their value. I just want people to seize the opportunities and make these social media sites as powerful as they can be.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and leave a comment. I appreciated hearing your thoughts on the subject, Lisa!

And I totally feel the same way about followers (you may have seen my "I hate the word followers" post: http://bit.ly/bXHHxx). You are so right, it's about learning, improving, listening, connecting. I mean, heck, you're a man in Turkey and I'm in LA and here we are having a discussion! How great is that?

While I agree with a lot of this (Auto DMs make me stabby) I'm actually going to come out on the side of Formulists on this one. I find that it helps with discovering new people or getting the full scoop on conversations you normally see just one side of. I made a few formulists, private of course, and keep streams for "who my friends talk to" and "people like me" and follow new people as they catch my eye.

You're coming against it from the perspective of a person who's being put on the lists, but not as the person actually using them. Give the service a try and I bet you might find it interesting :)

This is all great information! I love what you say about the costly programs. The only real way to learn about social media is to be social and the rest of the details are free. If you have a company then you need a marketing strategy. If you need help adding social media to your marketing strategy then that is a different story. That will be - one million dollars!

There is a lot of crap being pushed around trying to make the people who are just getting started feel like they need some magic pixie dust or it will all explode in their face. Seniors pushing the freshman around so they will give up their lunch money kind of stuff. I tend to stay away from any of the gurus or self proclaimed gurus. I find they are the worst offenders...but I'm not sure whose fault that is. We...or ..."the people"...put them up on a pedestal once they got some "success" online and in social media there really is no pedestal. So then there is no where for them to go but down down down.

I LOVE this passionate post, Amber~!!! All great points, my favorite being "TrueTwit" the bot who asks if you're a bot because you followed someone~!! Indeed punishing followers with auto DMs asking to prove whether you are a real person is the fastest way I know to get rid of followers~! Many people even block those accounts.

This is a BEAUTIFUL post~! No wonder it has so many retweets~!! Great content - it gets 'em every time~!!x0xAnita Nelson

Hey Jay, maybe it people didn't use the default wording for the list it wouldn't rub me the wrong way as much. But those list names are yucky. I have no objection to the idea of using them to discover new people, as you describe, and if you can make them private I think that's alright. But lists are suppose to provide value to all, not just the person (or bot) creating the list. As the recipient of a default, bot-created formulist, I get nothing but annoyed. But, hey, that's just me ;-)

Thanks for weighing in with your counterpoint, Jay! Always a pleasure to have you stop by.

Hey, lovely lady. You tweeted the post and secured two dozen retweets before I even checked everything this morning or sent my own tweet! You're a powerhouse, baby!

True Twit is now offering a paid upgrade that will spare many people from those "please authenticate" kind of DMs, but the free version is still the same. Even people with lots of followers use that (I can think of one example of a gal who had 40K+ and still used TrueTwit. Bleck!)

Thanks so much for getting the retweeting started and for taking the time to leave a comment. I know you're one busy gal! ;-) Best to you always, Anita.

P.S. The other Formulist list that really irks me is "People Who Listed Me." So, in other words, I put this person on a real list to acknowledge them in some fashion and they repay that by putting me on a bot-created list of no value whatsoever? Emily Post would say that's bad manners ;-(

However, although I find those unnecessary, I don't think I can, personally, sentence that person to hard core time in the pokey. However, if you want to borrow my badge and declare Draper Law, well, go get 'em! ;-)

I don't use Twitter. Is it actually useful for anything BUT self-promotion? Most people I know are young, unestablished, and use their social media tools for their own political reasons or ot advance their budding carreers. What's up, I thought this stuff was called SOCIAL media.

Andrew: Twitter is a very powerful networking platform. Sure, there will always be self-promoters on every platform, but those who use Twitter properly have made incredible business and personal connections!

Those who understand these sites, DO bring the "social" to the game. Those who don't, bring a megaphone. There's a huge difference.

Think of Twitter as an online networking event. Say hi to people, find some common ground, lend a hand, ask a question, offer up a good article. It's really that simple. Become a part of the community and your community will grow!

There's no magic trick that a course can provide. And, unfortunately, many of these people only teach bad habits. Good luck to you and stick with it! :-)

Awful that a service would charge to reduce the spam they are creating. And who cares who follows you? It only matters who YOU FOLLOW... People following you have no access to you for DM, etc. Simply look at an account before you follow if you're worried about bots~! It's amazing that True Twit has been able to stay in business without changing what they do at all. I think they are taking advantage of people AND creating a nuisance~!

I couldn't agree more! And it's up to those thoughtful people using Twitter to keep blocking these folks and report spam right away. I think that's part of the answer to the garbage dump that Twitter has become. Everyone start by blocking or unfollowing people who are abusing the service. That way, their tweets won't show up anywhere but on the junk accounts of Twitter nuisances. Great post, Amber!

Jean, you are so right! When people condone bad behavior, they don't just accept it, they perpetuate it. Granted, not everyone may be as bothered by these things, but at a minimum they're unnecessary annoyances. Why not be the best we all can be, right?

Thank you! I have just revoked TrueTwit - never thought of it that way. To be honest, it was not keeping undesirable followers away. I still had to block a few nuts that I am not sure what their purpose in life is...but they were not going to use me for it.Thank you again!

I fairly new to Twitter but I disagree about the auto DM. I don't have a problem with someone I choose to follow sending me additional information as I wouldn't be following if I wasn't interested. I don't have time to read every tweet that comes through but have discovered some great blogs and sites by reading the Auto DM they send to me.

I do not use a service that gets followers for me and I only follow people I truly want and need to connect with in my industry. I don't get the point of following thousands and having thousands of followers if we never actually ever look at or read each others tweets.

I don't follow obvious spammers and I actually read a followers last few tweets be sure I follow them back to make sure they aren't a spammer in disguise.

I looked at your Twitter account and can see that you're just getting started. I think this is the beginning of you getting so much more out of Twitter. Removing this first obstacle to connecting with folks is likely to change how you use the platform. Yay! I'm so glad you're off the TrueTwit bandwagon and to celebrate, I'm gonna follow you back ;-)

Hi Heidi, thanks for adding your input. As for the auto DMs, if you read them and click through, you're the first person I've met who does so. If you don't find them offensive, and even find that valuable, that's great. More power to ya. ;-)

Like you, I also look at someone's last few tweets before I follow back. Too many people just follow others to get the followback or bombard me with their advertising. Life is too short to self-inflict myself with that.

Thank you! Yes, am just starting... Started my blog a bit over 3 months ago and things are happening so fast...trying to find my footing in all this madness! Thank you for your vote of confidence by following me back! I really do appreciate it!

My pleasure, Maria! Thanks for reading and for taking the time to comment!

I don't know if you read my "Social Media Failure is not an Option" post, but you'll find your footing. By being open to change and evolution, I can already tell you're destined for success. Hang in there and knock everyone's socks off! ;-)

Thanks for the informative article, Amber! Being two weeks new to twitter, I am still hitting the upward slope on the learning curve. It's interesting to me how the twitter landscape is continually being defined and redefined. The cream always rises to the top, so it seems like it's just a matter of time before some of the things you mention will fizzle out. Your article helps identify the "good stuff" on twitter - thanks for sharing your expertise!

Thank YOU for reading, Stacy! I hope this stuff does fizzle out. It does a disservice to the platform, and it's such a great platform!

There will always be snake oil salesmen out there, unfortunately. However, I hope more people begin to see them for what they are and stop throwing away their money. As for the other things, well, they're just unnecessary and don't make us the best that we all can be. We can do better; and we should.

Thanks for stopping by, Stacy! And good luck on your exciting new Twitter adventure!

Thanks for another well thought and humorous post Amber. I have to agree with you on all the above and the worst offense for me is definitely the DM!! I do remember being new at twitter and not feeling quite so strongly about it as I do now. It will be interesting to see if some of the people who have already commented, and are not bothered, still feel the same way in a few months.

Of course, as complete as your list is, I find I have a couple more that bum me out...

People who send me a *personalized* note including a link to a white paper or discounted offer. When people follow me I always take a look a their mini bio to see if it is someone I believe to have value to me in some way. I frequently visit company websites based on a compelling profile. But, I want it to be my choice to read their website, not be SOLD on it. There is no faster way to loose my interest and this is just as bad as a spam email.

I have noticed some accounts that will follow me and if I don't follow them within a certain period of time they will unfollow, then follow me again. I suppose this is in an effort to gain as many followers as possible. Perhaps I didn't notice them them the first few times? To me, this also is a flagrant abuse of Twitter and I promptly block people who do this.

And finally, (for now at least!) people who #ff that obviously don't know me in any way possible and only want me to check out their website.

I love the sense of community I gain from Twitter. I find it to be an invaluable tool and love what it does for me. For anyone new to Twitter I always promise them that they will likely HATE it at first. But hang out with us for a while, and just observe. Once you start to see the rhythm, flow and process of twitter it will grow on you!!!

I really dis-like Auto DM's too! A large part of the reason I've simply stopped reading DM's. If you need to reach me, text or email works best, never a DM.

As for buying followers, yep, seen it happen. Of course, these people wouldn't admit it (I know of a few), but they've done it. To each their own. I for one know that I'm connected to my network and that works for me.

One thing I also don't like is when people abuse the Twitterfeed. It's ok to auto-post your feed to Twitter. I don't see a problem with that. But if that's all you do, yep, I have a problem and I'm not following you. I see TONS of real estate agents do this unfortunately.

Brenda, my apologies for not replying sooner. I have no idea why, but it just showed up on the blog, but is dated four days ago. How strange. Grrr. Technology! ;-(

Yes, yes, yes! Love your comment, Brenda! Those follow and unfollow people irk me too! I put them on my 12 Reasons I Won't Follow You Back on Twitter blog post.

And, oh, yes! The people who #FF you (or send holiday wishes or whatever), in a big clump of handles. People who I don't know and obviously don't know me. What IS the point of that???? What do they hope to gain other than my disrespect? Geez.

And, finally, one last YES! ;-) The Twitter community is great. If people can get passed that initial point where they want to give up, they won't ever be able to imagine their lives without Twitter!

I have no problem with food tweets, even if they're not from food people. My opinion is that an individual's Twitter stream is about whatever the person wants to talk about. I am, ultimately, the agent who decides which links to follow. (Also, I love food. So, perhaps I am biased.)

I enjoy the randomness of it. Even from a business standpoint or a brand standpoint, the randomness humanizes the experience. If I see carrot cake tweets from a shoe store that I follow, then I love the shoe store that much more.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the matter, Melissa. You are absolutely correct in the variety bringing a certain humanness to Twitter. I agree.

As for the occasional carrot cake tweet, I could live with that. But, I see people actually tweeting a pic from every course in their meal! Yes, it's their stream and they can do as they please. It's just such a shortsighted way to use Twitter and it makes it harder to get people to buy into the power of using Twitter when their first thought about it is people talking about their sandwiches ;-) Just my opinion, though.

Thanks for weighing in and sharing your viewpoint, Melissa. I'm sure your easy going demeanor will serve you well ;-)

1) People who aren't even following me who "RT" something that I NEVER tweeted in the first place.

2) When people who are trying to build up their following send a tweet that is addressed to me... and find out that is all that they do to each individual they know. And they send it over and over and over again.

There was another link at the bottom .. to more rules .. all this is from 2009. Certainly it it all still applies for those using it Twitter & FB, not as a "Social" networking ... but for "Career" networking. Anyway, here it is:http://moneywatch.bnet.com/career-advice/article/facebook-twitter-and-more-the-new-rules-of-social-networking/321204/?tag=content;feature

Irene, thanks for commenting. I understand the distinction you're trying to make on the auto DMs. However, I'm really just not a fan of them regardless if it's an individual or a big brand. I think there are other ways to acknowledge followers that have more impact. Besides, I don't think anyone expects to be acknowledged just because they followed your stream. To each his own, but that's my take on the subject ;-)

We have a lot of courses springing up in India that teach you how to 'Learn Facebook & Twitter" in two months and some other similiar nonsense.

And thanks for the gyaan(advice) on the Auto DM's. I have to admit i really thought the system was useful.You've shed a wee different light on it though and it makes sense.

However, i do have a question. Doesn't automating DM's for brands on twitter make sense as they need to acknowledge their followers? It's not possible for them to personally connect with every new follower so a DM is normally set up. What do you think?

Great story, Rachel! And disheartening at the same time. So many still just don't get it. You're absolutely right, they would NOT be quality followers at all. Who cares if you have 50,000 followers if 49,000 of them are spam accounts? Not me! :-)

I had to laugh at this list...because I agree with it and it makes me twitch because of the recall but the one I had to laugh the hardest about is the purchasing of followers. I have a really funny story to share about that.

I was really not interested in Twitter at all...had never even looked at it...however I "knew" how it worked. Anyway, I had applied for a job and one of the requirements was that you had to be familiar with Twitter...so I set up an account based upon one of my favorite things...animals...so when I got into the interview at least I would know what I was talking about. By the time of the interview...I had about 100 followers. When the interviewer asked me about my Twitter experience I mentioned the name he looked at the account and and saw that I had 150 followers...he was not too impressed...but I also told him when I opened the account and such. Their account was relatively new also so we got to talking about followers..and I mentioned that I would be able to build up their following and that was the first time I had ever heard it... "oh that's not a problem...we can purchase x# of followers for just $12.99"....I quickly retorted that I couldn't imagine that they would be quality followers...

Fast forward to the next interview....I impressed him with the following I had built up on my personal account since our last meeting....and implored him to let me at his account....pay me the $12.99....lol

That is how I actually got hooked on Twitter...and now I have like 7 accounts.

Suzanne: There's nothing "angry" about anything here. If you were a regular reader of the blog, you'd know my writing has a bite. Ask ANYONE on Twitter about my personality and I can say with complete and total confidence that NO ONE will utter the word "angry". Look at my Twitter favorites. They are a testimonial to who I am and how I'm perceived.

If you enjoy getting links to other people's Facebook pages, more power to ya! Whatever floats your boat...

Twitter is many different things to many different people. For some it is a way of keeping in touch with friends, others- establishing new connections, while many more are using it as a marketing tool.

To engage others on Twitter, it is important to understand what is of value to the individual, and correspond accordingly. Yes, that may even at times include replying:" Sounds delicious!"

I am surprised not to find mention of the biggest DM sins in my book: Shortened affiliate marketing links. Repeated invitations to join your game.DM from non-followers - please do not DM me if you don't want a DM back.

If you have a great link, you think I would enjoy, send it via a mention, then I might share it with others too!

Personally, I enjoy receiving links to people's Facebook pages. I would prefer they be sent by a mention, rather than DM. DM is best used for confidential messages.

Thanks for the informative post. Even the short time I have been tweeting, I have encountered many of these things, some I haven't. I mix personal plus informative tweets on subjects I am interested in -- even composition of Laundry Haikus from time to time. :)

Question though: What frequency of tweets is overkill for followers in your opinion? I am humbled people read my tweets, yet do not want to overstay my welcome as it were.

There's one person in particular I had to unfollow because he tweeted so much it took up my whole stream. Sometimes 10 tweets in a minute for hours at a time. It was always his face that took up my entire Tweetdeck. It was a complete assault.

There's nothing wrong with being active. Just don't rapid fire tweet.

Also, to complicate matters, how bombarded people feel can sometimes be reflected in the number of people THEY follow as opposed to how many tweets you send. For example, if someone follows 200 people and you send 10 tweets in an hour, that's 5% of their Twitter stream. However, if that person follows 1000 people, it's only 1% of their stream. Same amount of tweets to you, but the impact can be much different on the recipient.

Totally agree with you on Automation It is like the Telephone Click 1 for a live person,click 2 for spam detection click 3 to reject scams click 4 to denouce employed twitters for hire click 5 for do it yourself kit

Although many people I've spoken with have defended their use of Formulists for analysis, none of those folks have ever said to me that they use other people's Formulists to collect data. So, I'm with you. Making them private is sooo much better.

Sarah: A DM is a direct message. The private messages you can send. Many use an automation device to send a pre-written hello or they direct people to their website or ask people to friend them on Facebook. I've never seen one that I think had any value.

Twitter n ppl need to stop making fake accts. n attacking ppl for what they tweet.I posted BD pics of my lil girl who is 8yo n wanted a hbd tweet fr. @Therock this person reposted her pics w/nasty comments of how she will be 300lbs supposedly like me n how she Failed Rock don't care 4 her cause she"s just a kid Absolutely upsetting to me as MOM n the use of her pics w/nasty comments :*( This has to stop #EndFakeAcctsAndTrolls

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